Behavioral Health Billing Solutions: The Ultimate Guide to Help You Decide if You Should Outsource it
Running a successful behavioral health facility is a noble endeavor with countless responsibilities on your shoulder. Among them are acquiring new patients, marketing, insurance, payroll, staffing management, and whatnot.
Too often, though, mental health practitioners find medical billing frustrating. Frequent changes in the billing code, varying timelines of each payer, and complex insurance criteria complicate the billing process.
Nevertheless, medical billing is paramount to the healthcare industry; otherwise, receiving payments from insurance companies for their services will be challenging.
Amid all this, taking proper care of patients often takes a backseat. For this reason, the majority of mental health practitioners are outsourcing behavioral health billing solutions to take the weight of medical billing off their shoulders.
But this begs the question: is outsourcing beneficial for mental health professionals? Does it really simplify the process of medical billing?
The short answer is yes; outsourcing behavioral health billing solutions has improved the bottom line of medical practitioners.
Still not convinced? Scroll down to learn the benefits of outsourcing behavioral health billing solutions.
Challenges Faced by Mental Health Practitioners in Behavioral Health Billing
Before we dive in to discuss the benefits of investing in behavioral health billing solutions, let’s take a look at the challenges faced by mental health practitioners in regard to medical billing.
1. Mental Health Billing Codes
The procedure of turning clinical data and patient charts into medical insurance claims is known as medical billing and coding. Because these bills are submitted to insurance companies for reimbursement, it’s important for health professionals to code them properly.
Any errors in coding, like incorrect code or outdated coding, can lead to claim delays or, in the worst case, denials. As traditional billing software isn’t designed for behavioral health practices, error in coding is a major problem that practitioners often encounter.
2. Pre-Approvals
Individuals seeking behavioral or mental health services, perhaps, book sessions regularly. Until the patients have the same insurance, mental health practitioners don’t face any troubles. But if there’s a change, claims can get denied because of a lack of pre-approval. As a result, practitioners face difficulty in recovering compensation for their services.
3 Advantages of Outsourcing Behavioral Health Billing Solutions
As is evident, a considerable amount of drudgery is involved in filing claims for health practitioners. To reduce their workload, many providers have turned to third-party behavioral health billing solutions that take care of the claims while they focus on patients.
That said, here are a few advantages that providers reap by outsourcing behavioral health billing solutions:
1. Reduced Billing Errors
Companies offering behavioral health billing solutions have experienced medical billers at their disposal who are extensively trained in regard to claim submission processes. While at work, they file claims in a timely manner while double-checking for errors before submitting them to the insurance companies.
Several behavioral health billing software providers like Psyquel submit insurance claims to companies the same day you see a patient. Because of this quick service, the likelihood of missed payments or delay in claims is minimized.
This innovative billing platform offers an array of services other than billing, like storing patient records, scheduling appointments and sending reminders, and so on. Users pleased with its services have rated it 4.4 stars.
2. Better Reimbursements
When behavioral health billing responsibility is handed over to a third-party company, claims are coded accurately. And since medical billing experts know how to optimize applications, reimbursements are often received in full rather than in half.
Even if partial reimbursement is received, practitioners need not battle with payers, as the billing partner takes care of everything.
3. Proper Focus on Clients
Handling patients and medical billing at the same time is challenging. By focusing on billing, providers aren’t able to pay as much attention to patient care as they should.
By outsourcing behavioral health billing solutions, mental health practitioners can dedicate themselves to patient care. After all, serving individuals suffering from mental health issues is their priority; billing is secondary.
Having someone to help you with billing, precisely billing experts, will ease your burden and allow you to focus on your patients without missing out on practicing revenue.
Outsourcing Behavioral Billing Health Solutions is the Way to Go
Taking everything into account, it’s safe to say that outsourcing medical billing is beneficial for every mental health practitioner.
Submitting claims alongside taking proper care of patients is onerous. Because the two are accompanied by stress and pressure, you’re bound to make mistakes that will further delay claims.
In essence, hiring a third party who’ll take care of your billing process will reduce your workload. Besides, it will streamline your billing processes and lessen the strain on internal resources.
Having a team of expert billers in your clinic can make a world of difference.
